L'Atalante basin

Main article: [L'Atalante (ship)]

Formation and Discovery

L'Atalante basin is a special lake deep in the Mediterranean Sea, about 192 kilometers west of Crete. Unlike lakes on land, it is filled with very salty water and sits 3,500 meters below sea level. Scientists found it in 1993 from a French research ship named L'Atalante.

This basin, along with two others called Urania and Discovery, is very young — only about 35,000 years old. They formed when old salt deposits under the sea dissolved and collected in deep holes. These lakes are interesting to scientists because they show how nature can create unusual places far beneath the ocean. L'Atalante is the smallest of these three deep lakes, making it a special spot for studying the deep sea.

Description and biology

The L'Atalante basin has very salty water that does not mix with the normal sea water above it. This salty water has no oxygen, which makes it a special place for tiny living things.

Near where the salty water meets the normal sea water, there are special kinds of bacteria and other tiny organisms that can live without much oxygen. Deeper down in the salty water, there are even tougher tiny creatures called extremophiles. Scientists have also found very small, simple animals called ciliates, dinoflagellates, and choanoflagellates living here.

In 2010, scientists found three types of very small animals living in the sediment at the bottom of the basin. These were the first animals ever found that can live completely without oxygen.